Sacrifice
by David Grant
Summary: Several months after encountering the Guardian of Forever, the Enterprise returns to the Guardian's planet with a science team. They expect to return to a lifeless world, but the Guardian is no longer alone...


Star Trek  
The Original Series  
Sacrifice

NOTE: For comparison with my other two Star Trek fanfics, this was written when I was 17.

Even if his life had depended on it, Jim Kirk wouldn't have been able to explain how time ripples could pound a starship as roughly as a torpedo hit. Space exploration had been likened to sea travel since it was first attempted, but the similarity was too acute when waves _in time itself_ were rocking his ship and making him feel seasick. Enterprise was his home, and he was used to feeling more comfortable aboard her.

Then again, complaining to himself about this slight annoyance distracted him from their current mission. On orders from Starfleet, they were returning to the Guardian of Forever with a full science team. A base would be established on the planet and the Guardian would be poked, prodded, and played with by the Federation's finest.

The prospect of so many people having access to the Guardian made Kirk nervous. It would only take one person -- one fool with a God complex -- to change the entire universe. It might even be a well-intentioned fool who believed he could avoid altering the past. But that isn't possible. Something as simple as crossing a street at the right time, in the right place, in the presence of the right person, can change everything.

For Edith, all it took was a moment's distraction -- a distraction caused by a man standing on the roadside who should have been light years away and centuries later. Because of that distraction, she didn't see the truck coming. Because of that man, she died.

An image flashed across his mind's eye, of a once beautiful woman lying disfigured in the street, with her blood dripping from the fender of an ugly truck. But it wasn't memory. It was just a gory fabrication of his conscience; he'd never seen the body.

"We are entering high orbit, captain," said Sulu.

Abruptly, Kirk's thoughts returned to the present. It was unlike him to become distracted on the bridge, but... it had only been a few months since their first visit to this place, when McCoy had unwittingly altered the universe they knew in a freak and unlikely accident. The memories were still fresh.

"Thank you, Mr. Sulu," Kirk replied. Then he turned to Spock. "Tell the science team to prepare to beam down."

Kirk knew that his presence was not_ technically_ required on this away mission. (In fact, he thought there might be a Starfleet regulation against it.) Yet, for reasons that he didn't fully understand, he wanted to see the Guardian again. He decided to accompany the team.

* * *

Kirk thought it strange that the ripples in time that affected Enterprise so strongly up in orbit were insignificant down on the planet. When the transporter deposited the away team on the surface, it was every bit as still and desolate as they remembered.

Reading a tricorder display, Spock turned to Kirk and gestured. "This way."

They started walking -- Jim, Spock, two security guards, and the ranking members of the science team conveyed here by the Enterprise. They'd only gone a few paces when Spock's tricorder beeped excitedly.

"I am registering two life signs," he said.

"Near the Guardian?" Kirk asked.

Spock studied the display for a moment. "It is difficult to tell. They are... nearby."

Kirk turned to face the team. "Arm phasers. Set to stun."

A moment later, they passed through a crevasse in a rocky wall and found themselves standing before the Guardian of Forever. The ancient artifact was no less captivating now than it had been before, but Kirk found himself looking past it -- or, more accurately, through it. Framed by its uneven opening was a primitive campsite, which was covered by a ragged tarp on poles.

"The life signs I detected are coming from that structure," Spock reported, holding his tricorder in one hand and his phaser in the other.

Kirk considered the campsite for a moment.

"Well," he said, moving forward, "let's go introduce ourselves."

The away team followed, ignoring the Guardian temporarily. When they reached the structure beyond it, they found it occupied by two apparently human males -- both sound asleep in blankets on the rocky ground.

"They look human," one of the scientists observed. "I wonder what they're doing way out here."

"God knows," Kirk said, assessing the shelter. "Stand down; there's no threat here." He knelt next to the nearest stranger and laid a hand on his shoulder.

The man groaned and stretched. "My turn already, Jamis?" he asked, with his eyes still closed.

"I'm Captain James Kirk, of the Federation Starship Enterprise."

The man's eyes shot open and darted across the faces surrounding him. He didn't cry out, but his manner was frantic.

"It's all right," Kirk said. "We're here to help. Were you stranded?"

The man mouthed a few words incoherently before he finally found his voice. "Yes, our engine malfunctioned. We tried to land, but..." He frowned. "Wait, you're not Alliance. Who sent--"

"Thomas, what the hell are you-- damn!" The other man was awake. "What's going on?"

"I'm Captain James Kirk," he said again, "from the Federation Starship Enterprise."

"'Federation'..." mumbled the first man, as if he were trying to recall the name. Suddenly, his eyes darted around again. This time he was looking past the away team, searching anxiously for something. When he didn't find it, he and his comrade exchanged an intense look.

Kirk didn't like the way they were acting. What were they doing way out here?

He decided to make another diplomatic gesture.

"We can bring you aboard our ship," he said, "and take you to the nearest starbase. Surely you'd like to be rescued?"

The first man swallowed nervously. "Yes, of course. We're glad you found us. Of course we'd like to leave."

Spock noticed that the other man's face bore a strange expression -- one that might have suggested (if it made any logical sense) that he didn't agree. However, he exchanged another glance with his companion, and said nothing.

"Why were you in this sector?" Kirk asked.

"Excuse me, Captain," interrupted one of the scientists. "May we begin beaming down the team's supplies? We're eager to start studying the Guardian."

Kirk turned away just in time to miss the flash of panic that crossed the strangers' faces when the Guardian was mentioned. The first man they'd awakened (Spock remembered the other one calling him "Thomas") stammered a question.

"You're--" he began. "You're staying here? Why?"

Kirk cast an annoyed glance at the scientist for revealing why they'd come. These men shouldn't suspect that there was anything important here.

"There's a rare ore in the planet's crust," Kirk said, after a moment spent forging the lie. "We're looking for the best places to mine."

He paused for a moment to see if they objected to the story, then changed the subject.

"You seem to have chosen your camp site well. Do you mind if we set up here?"

The stranger, Thomas, nodded his assent, but with apparent reservations. "Just let us gather our things," he said.

"Of course."

Kirk left two security guards at the camp and returned to the Guardian, followed by the science team.

"So this is it..." mused the lead scientist, appraising the ancient portal. "Hard to believe this thing can do everything your report to Starfleet detailed. Is it still operational?"

_I have been and always shall be._

The scientist stepped back, obviously startled, and Kirk smiled slightly. The Guardian was very much "still operational."

As he stood there looking at it, Kirk suddenly realized how simple it would be to just... step forward, and let himself fall into the past. If he could go back in time, to before her death, and stand right next to her, then was Edith really dead?

Now he understood. He understood why he'd wanted to come down here, to the surface. Even though he knew he would never really be so foolish -- so selfish -- as to do what he imagined, he wanted to stand here and know that he could, to come as _close_ as he could.

He wanted to ask the Guardian to show her life. He wanted to see her standing there in front of him, as though poised elegantly on the far side of a gossamer curtain. Suddenly, though, he wasn't sure he had the self-control. He wasn't sure he could stop himself from slipping forward slightly -- just a little -- and letting himself fall through her image to her time.

Kirk didn't want to be here anymore.

"I'm returning to the ship," he said abruptly.

He had a lunch date with Bones.

* * *

When Thomas was led to his temporary quarters on the Enterprise, he was told kindly but plainly that his room would be guarded. He nodded quietly as if that didn't bother him, but rushed to the room's computer terminal as soon as the guard left him alone. He was looking for an access to the ship's database. He knew that sensitive material would be carefully secured, but he wasn't looking for any information they'd consider confidential. What value were their history books to anyone but him?

Mason should be in his own quarters by now. Thomas leaned away from the display, and pushed the sleeve of his left arm up to the elbow. (He could only hope that the room wasn't internally monitored.) Near his wrist were two conspicuous birth marks, which he pressed simultaneously with the fingers of his other hand. This caused a grid of lighted dots -- generated by implants beneath the skin -- to appear on his forearm. He entered a combination: blue, red, blue, yellow. Then he rested his elbow on the table and put his mouth to his wrist.

"Mason?" he asked, in a whisper. He waited a few seconds. "Mason?"

"I hear you," came the reply. "I couldn't talk yet." Mason exhaled. "What's going on? What is this ship? I've never heard of any Federation."

"That's because it shouldn't exist," Thomas returned. "If there's a computer monitor in your room, activate it. Take a quick look at recent history. Anything look familiar?"

Mason was silent for a few moments. Finally, he replied in a hushed, appalled breath.

"Oh my God."

They both understood what had happened.

"Jamis must have entered the Guardian," Thomas said plainly. "It's the only explanation."

"Then why are we still here?"

"Maybe things very close to the Guardian don't change, I don't know," Thomas replied. "Look, we need to find out what he did and get back to the planet."

"Right," Mason said, exhaling slowly. "You're the amateur historian. Can you tell when the timelines diverge?"

Thomas had been studying the library files. "The earliest major event in Earth's history that I don't recognize is a series of wars in the late 20th Century. This history refers to them as... 'The Eugenics Wars.'"

"Eugenics?" Mason asked.

"Selective breeding," Thomas answered. "But Jamis must have interfered before that."

"Why?"

"Because the timelines were already different by the 1980s, a whole decade before the wars. If I contrast the histories by comparing something significant -- something that I can remember from our universe -- it's obvious. Take the succession of presidents in the North American United States. In this 'Federation of Planets' timeline, Ronald Reagan didn't become president in 1983. In our timeline he was President for two full terms, followed by George Bush, Bill Clinton, another George Bush and so on. There must be some cause farther back, of which these discrepancies are only symptoms."

"It's him!" Mason exclaimed suddenly. "I don't believe it!"

"What?"

"Run a search on the name 'Tyler Clark.'"

Thomas entered the name, and the computer told him that Tyler Clark was the head of a modestly successful technology firm in the 1970s. He earned a small fortune making minor -- but apparently brilliant -- discoveries in computing, and then retired with little fanfare. The story was mildly interesting, but hardly warranted Mason's shocked reaction. What had he seen? Then Thomas noticed the attached picture of Dr. Clark.

It was Jamis.

"Of course!" Thomas exclaimed. "The instigators of the Eugenics Wars couldn't have engineered super_soldiers_ without super_computers_ to assist them. Jamis's minor contributions to technology made the creation of an army possible."

Mason frowned. "I thought 'eugenics' was selective breeding, not genetic engineering."

"Technically, yes," Thomas replied, "but selective breeding takes too long. There was only one generation between 1970 and 1992, and -- accounting for the normal speed of human reproduction -- that wasn't enough time to produce humans with such enhanced abilities. 'Eugenics' is a misnomer. The soldiers _must_ have been engineered."

"Well, then," Mason said. "That's what we have to change."

"Yes," Thomas replied gravely, "but we don't know if it's possible to return after jumping through the Guardian. One of us may have to go back..." He swallowed. "...permanently."

Mason considered for a moment. "The price is worth paying. If we don't fix this, then your wife, your son... everyone we know... will never have existed."

Just then, Thomas heard another voice inside his head. It came from a second implant, this one designed to feed information directly to his brain.

Mason heard it too. "The planet's rotation has brought our ship in range for transport," he said. "We should get out of here _now_."

"Agreed," Thomas replied, "but is it safe to beam back?"

"Well, the ship is cloaked; they shouldn't have found it. And the gas from the engine venting should have been purged by now." Mason sighed. "Just a few more hours and the engines would have been running. _We_ would have been running." He banged his fist on the table. "Damn!"

Thomas didn't acknowledge the outburst. "All right," he said. "We'll transport back to the ship on my count." He laid his arm down on the table, and pressed several of the lighted circles in sequence. "Three... two... one..." he intoned slowly. "Now."

Nothing happened.

"Something's wrong, Mason," Thomas said anxiously. "Our transport is being blocked."

But Mason had already left the Enterprise. Their transport wasn't being blocked; Thomas's implant had malfunctioned. He was trapped.

Outside, in the corridor, the wall communicator next to Crewman Morris beeped.

"Crewman Morris, this is the bridge," said Uhura's disembodied voice. "We just read a small surge of energy from your section. Please report."

Crewman Morris turned to answer. "Bridge, everything seems to be fine. Should I check on the passengers?"

"Affirmative, crewman," replied Uhura.

Morris went to the first door and pressed the chime, but there was no reply, so he used a security override and the doors whooshed open. Cautiously, he entered and surveyed the room. It was bereft of furniture, offering no places of concealment, and its occupant was not in sight.

Immediately alarmed, Morris sprinted out of the empty room and down the hall to the other. When he entered it, he found Thomas bent over the desk, intently cutting his own arm open with some sort of blade. Then Crewman Morris looked more carefully; Thomas's arm was glowing.

Morris drew his phaser.

* * *

"All I'm saying," Bones continued, "is that everybody's human."

"Spock would take issue with that," Kirk said, lifting a forkful of food into his mouth.

"I mean that everyone can be tempted. Who wouldn't be tempted by that kind of power? It would only take one of those scientists -- just one -- to decide the universe would be better off a certain way, and that would be that."

Kirk leaned back in his chair. "Don't think that hasn't occurred to me," he said, "but this is out of my authority."

Bones wasn't satisfied with that response. "As I recall," he replied bluntly, "questions of authority don't usually stop you from doing what you think is right."

"Excuse me, captain," said Uhura, interrupting via intercom. "One of the men we found on the planet is missing."

Kirk picked up his communicator. "Define 'missing.'"

"He appears to have been beamed off the ship, sir."

Kirk frowned. "Weren't our shields up?"

"Yes, sir," she replied. "Mr. Spock's trying to figure out what happened."

Kirk reluctantly put down his fork. "I'm on my way."

* * *

Thomas felt like he'd been waiting for hours. After they caught him repairing his implant, they'd covered his forearm with a metal sleeve and brought him to this conference room, presumably to be interrogated. They were waiting for the captain to arrive, but Thomas had already spent several minutes rebuffing the Vulcan's questions about Mason transporting through the Enterprise shields. He didn't know how to answer; it hadn't occurred to him that the shields would be a problem, and (if Mason's successful transport were any indication) they hadn't been. For Federation technology, shielding was apparently a barrier to transport.

How strange.

He had to get back to the Guardian! It was the only way back to the universe he knew, but they were keeping him here, keeping him waiting. They had no idea what was at stake.

Finally, the doors opened and the captain entered, followed by a blue-shirted man with a lined face. They sat down across from him.

Kirk jumped straight to the point. "Where is your friend?"

A lie. He needed a lie. His mind scrambled to assemble something reasonable.

"Did he transport to the surface?" Kirk continued. "Or is there a cloaked ship nearby?"

"Bridge to captain," said Uhura through the comm. "There's a problem on the surface, sir. We just detected weapons fire at the coordinates of the science team."

"Captain," Spock said urgently, "I suggest sending an away team to secure the Guardian. We have no idea what will happen to us if Mason manages to enter it."

Thomas's eyes widened. They _knew_!

Kirk took a moment to consider the new information, then turned back to face him. "Does this have anything to do with your friend?"

Thomas's mind was racing. If they knew about the Guardian -- if it was that important to them -- then they must know what it could do. He was desperate to return to the surface, but he had no cards left to play. He decided to try something unconventional: honesty.

"I know about the Guardian of Forever," he said, "and apparently, so do you." He paused for emphasis. "Do you know that the entire universe can be reshaped in an instant around anyone who enters it?"

Kirk was silent for a moment, but decided that feigning ignorance of the Guardian's powers would accomplish nothing. "Is Mason going to use the Guardian?"

Thomas stared back. "Yes."

"And why does he want to change the universe from what it is?"

Thomas slammed his hands on the table. "He wants to return it to the way it _was_!"

Silence.

The Vulcan spoke first. "Are you implying that reality has already been altered?"

Thomas took a deep breath. "There were three of us on the planet. We landed because our ship was damaged."

"Landed?" Kirk interrupted. "I thought your ship was destroyed."

Thomas shook his head. "I never said that. It was merely cloaked."

"So you were hiding?"

"Not from you. We were hiding from the Earth government, the Alliance."

"The _Earth_ government?"

Thomas exhaled in exasperation. "Captain, neither you nor your universe were meant to exist. Everything around me is an unhappy accident caused by the third member of our crew. He used the Guardian to enter the past and -- in so doing -- altered the present... to create... _you_."

McCoy breathed "oh my God" under his breath, but Thomas just kept going. His last hope was to appeal to the captain's sense of rightness -- to convince him that reality should be restored to its original form.

"In the universe as it should be," he began, "humans live mainly on two worlds: Earth, a corrupt and communist shell of its former self, and Terrania, a terraformed planet in deep space that is becoming humanity's new home. No one wants to stay on Old Earth anymore. People have been immigrating to Terrania in droves, taking with them skills and experience that Earth requires to maintain a functioning society. So, the Alliance has made it more and more difficult to leave. The only people allowed off-planet are those on official Alliance business, and only those with families still on Earth are permitted to travel unescorted."

Spock silently noted the cold logic of that strategy.

"Mason and I made a deal with the Terranian government," Thomas continued. "We're high-ranking scientists and our expertise is valuable, so they agreed to smuggle our families off of Earth if we defected. We received approval from the Earth government for a research mission in deep space and bribed our pilot, Jamis, to take us to Terrania."

"Things didn't go as planned?" Kirk asked.

"No," Thomas replied. "Our engine malfunctioned and we had to set down on this planet to repair it. Fixing the problem meant venting lethal gas into the ship's living quarters, so we camped outside, sleeping in shifts to watch for danger. But, during Jamis's turn on watch, he used the Guardian to travel back in time." Thomas looked straight at Kirk. "In that instant, captain, your entire reality, and all of its past and future, winked into existence. Everyone I knew ceased to exist, and you -- in a sense -- were born."

If Kirk had been standing, he would have sat down. His mind scrambled to make sense of everything he'd learned. He needed time to think, but he didn't have it, not with Mason planning to use the Guardian. Kirk wasn't even sure that, in the end, stopping him from changing the timeline would be the right thing to do. For now, though, he planned to stop him. Then he'd have time to think.

"Assemble a strike team," he ordered. "We're going after him."

The guard lifted Thomas to his feet, preparing to escort him to quarters.

"Wait," said Kirk. "He's coming with us."

* * *

After the glow of the transporter faded, Mason found himself in the dimly lit cabin of his ship. Expecting Thomas to follow any second, he began to reactivate the ship's main systems. However, when several minutes had passed, Mason began to consider the possibility that he'd been captured.

Mason thought for a minute, then shrugged. Worse could have happened.

Thomas was a traitor to the Alliance, and Mason had been planning to arrest him anyway, along with anyone who was aiding defectors to Terrania. That was why he'd masqueraded as a scientist defector. Still, he would have preferred it if Thomas had been the one to travel back in time. Mason was willing to give his life to restore the Alliance, but he'd rather have had Thomas do it for him.

Oh, well. All great causes have a few martyrs.

If Thomas had been captured, Mason needed to move quickly. He dashed to the pilot's console, and, keeping the cloak engaged, he lifted off. His ship had remained undiscovered only meters from the Federation science team, and (with the engines repaired) was now fully operational. The scientists hadn't set up perimeter scanners or forcefields yet, so the cloak concealed him adequately. They had no idea that he was hovering just above them.

Mason had to admit that part of him regretted what he was about to do... but he was resolute.

Quickly, decisively, he tapped a button on the weapons console and several bursts of light exploded from the ship's main cannon. Instantly, the shelter was destroyed and most of the scientists were dead. Two or three had been far enough away that they'd escaped the blast, so he swiftly re-targeted and killed them too. Then, he landed his ship next to the Guardian and prepared to depart. He wouldn't be coming back.

* * *

The Enterprise away team had been assembled as quickly as possible. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Thomas, and the four members of the strike team, had literally run to the transporter room. But, despite their haste, they arrived on the surface too late to do anything but watch as Mason stepped through the Guardian and disappeared.

They stood for a moment in uncertain silence. Then Spock lifted his communicator to his mouth and spoke.

"Away team to Enterprise, come in."

No response.

"Enterprise, come in."

Kirk rubbed his eyes wearily. "This is all too familiar."

Only Thomas was happy. He'd made it! Mason had succeeded in entering the Guardian, and Thomas had reached the planet's surface in time to escape the changes to reality. But he needed to know if Mason had been completely successful, if this was the universe he knew. And, he needed to figure out what to do about Kirk and the others. They were homeless now, as he had been -- men without a past. What if they tried to change things back?

Kirk was deep in thought, and Bones could see that something was bothering him. "What is it, Jim?" he asked, speaking quietly enough to keep the conversation private. "If he changed the past, we can fix it. You did it once, you can do it again."

"Yes, we can," Kirk replied, turning to look McCoy in the eye. "But _should _we?"

Bones stared back incredulously. "Well why the hell not?!"

"If what Thomas said is true, then the universe we know wasn't meant to exist. Who am I to choose this reality over that one?"

McCoy was undeterred. "I'm a doctor, not a philosopher."

Before Kirk responded, Spock broke in. "Captain," he said, "I suggest we salvage what we can from the science team's supplies and secure the Alliance ship. We may need it."

Jim pushed his mind back to their immediate predicament. "Of course, Mr. Spock," he said. "You stay here and study the ship. The rest of us will search the wreckage."

Spock gave the small nod Jim had grown so accustomed to, and turned to walk away.

"Wait," Thomas said, sensing an opportunity. "The ship won't allow him access without one of these." He tried to hold up his left arm, but only managed to jiggle it in its restraints. "All Alliance personnel have them implanted."

Kirk considered for a moment. "All right," he said. "Spock, take him with you." Then he turned and gestured to McCoy and the Enterprise crewmen. "Let's see what we can salvage."

Unfortunately, after several minutes of wandering through the camp, it became clear that nothing remained of the science team but a collection of broken bodies and broken equipment. Kirk had just discovered another dead scientist when he saw Spock and Thomas walking briskly towards him.

"Captain," Spock said without preamble. "We are in great danger."

Kirk stood up. "Explain."

"The communications log inside the ship indicates that a distress signal has been broadcasting. According to Thomas, it is encoded to Alliance vessels."

"Did you stop it?"

"No need," Spock replied coldly. "It has already been answered. A ship is coming here, soon."

Jim cursed. "Suggestions?"

Spock thought for a moment, then replied. "The approaching vessel's battle capability far exceeds our own. Therefore, the Guardian is our only means of neutralizing it. Outside of the Guardian's protected sphere, it will cease to exist if the timeline is altered."

"But, if we used the Guardian..." Kirk said with troubled thoughtfulness "...we would undo the reality that should rightfully exist."

"Possibly," Spock said. "Certainly, we would undo a reality that existed before our own (if such expressions of time apply here). However, it is safe to assume that those who created the Guardian _also_ used it, and it is therefore unlikely that even Thomas's reality is the original. Determining which universe 'should rightfully exist' is frankly beyond our capability."

"So we should just throw caution to the wind and do whatever suits us?"

Spock returned Kirk's gaze stoically, as usual. "I remind the captain that the decision ultimately rests with him."

Kirk shook his head. "And who gave me that authority? I'm a starship captain, not a god!"

During their conversation, Thomas had been brooding silently. His thoughts were dark. He could think of no reason for Mason to contact an Alliance ship unless Mason himself worked for the Alliance, and if that were true then his agreement to defect with Thomas had been nothing but a ploy. The Alliance had known about his plan all along, and he had only gotten this far because they were trying to expose his benefactors before exposing him.

He'd never even had a chance.

"Captain," he said suddenly, raising his eyes from the ground and revealing them to be filled with grief and anger. "If you're considering leaving things alone, letting the Alliance continue to exist, then let me tell you..." This last word he spat with all possible contempt. _"...don't!_" (His eyes were hollow.) "The Alliance is a plague, and it has to be eradicated. I've seen that Earth has multiple timelines, and they don't all lead to corruption and control. If you gave this choice to me, I would choose _your_ universe, not mine!"

There were several seconds of stunned silence because of the intensity of his emotions; his hatred could be tasted in the air.

McCoy was the first to speak. "What about your family?"

Thomas's mouth curled into what might have been a snarl or a sob. "My wife and son are as good as dead. If Mason worked for the Alliance, then they know I tried to defect. My family will be tortured and killed as an example to others like me." Thomas's eyes became hollow and distant again, as he was taken back to an old, forgotten memory. "In times of great turmoil," he said softly, "men have killed their own families out of mercy to save them from painful deaths." Here he turned to look straight into Kirk's eyes. "I can do better. I can rewrite time so that they never existed, so that they have never lived to experience pain." He swallowed, trying to keep control of his voice. "It's the only way I know to save them."

Once again, Thomas had left those around him speechless. Even stranded as they were, with little hope of returning to the ones they loved, they could not compare their own dismay to his.

Kirk scanned the faces around him. They were worn and haggard, even though it had been less than an hour since they beamed down from Enterprise. But that ship was gone now, along with everything -- and everyone -- they'd ever known. Kirk realized that he had the power to save these people. By choosing to use the Guardian, he could get them back to the Enterprise, and eventually back to the people that they loved.

"There is something else, captain," Spock said, as though aware of Kirk's thoughts. "Even if we sacrifice ourselves by staying here, the timeline might still be altered. An Alliance ship is coming, and it is likely they will discover the Guardian as we did. By allowing them to reach this planet, we could be handing the most powerful tool in the universe to those who would worst abuse it."

That finished the debate; Kirk had made his decision. "Thomas..." he said slowly. "We're going to need your help."

Indeed, it would have been impossible without him. Thomas had spent his earlier time on the planet studying the Guardian for the sake of his own curiosity, but he'd gained information that proved invaluable. He'd even jerry-rigged a device to help him communicate with it. (He explained that the Guardian responded to any kind of computer code he threw at it, and that communication was much easier with a technological medium.) It was a simple device -- just a small keyboard and screen -- that he sat on the ground in front of him. It didn't require wires or other connections. The Guardian read its signals automatically, and responded with images and light patterns.

Spock was very impressed.

For ten minutes, Thomas worked madly, checking the timeline for discrepancies and searching for something he called a cusp. When asked what that was, he replied that the "timeline" is closer in appearance to a fishnet than to an actual line. A "cusp" -- the geometric term for a sharp turn in a line -- exists at each point where two ropes in the fishnet cross each other. A time traveler at this intersection has a choice between two roads that lead to exactly two specific futures. "In other words," Spock had replied, "the past can be altered only at specific junctures, and only within a limited set of possible futures?" Thomas had answered affirmatively, and added that there were, however, an infinite number of cusps, thus allowing an infinite number of possible timelines. It was all very interesting, but the joy of scientific discovery was lost on most of them. As Thomas worked, Kirk was anxiously watching the time remaining to the Alliance ship's arrival tick away.

After what seemed like an eternity, Thomas finally jumped up and exclaimed, "I found it!"

Kirk leaned down to see, and Thomas elaborated.

"Our pilot, Jamis, went back to 1970 and used his technical knowledge to start a small business. His interference accelerated the technological development of Earth and, in your timeline, led to the Eugenics Wars. But, in my timeline, that business never existed. In this slightly altered version of my history, I found a record saying that Jamis's office was destroyed by fire during construction, and that two bodies were found inside: Jamis and an unidentified corpse." Here he paused, feeling an illogical swell of pity for the man he used to call a friend. "The second body must have been Mason's."

Spock raised an eyebrow. "Why would he commit suicide?"

"It was the only way to prevent contaminating the timeline," Thomas replied, his tone suggesting that was obvious.

Kirk frowned. "Why didn't he just... come back?"

Thomas's eyes widened. "It's possible to return to the time you left? How do you know that?"

Kirk held back for a moment, then answered. "We've used the Guardian before," he said, "...but I don't remember how we came back."

Well, of course he didn't remember. The woman he loved had just died.

With time so short, Thomas didn't inquire further. He just blinked in surprise and continued his lecture. "There are two distinct timelines branching from the 1980s," he said. "Although the changes Jamis made were in the '70s, they didn't have an impact until here." He pointed. "The Guardian says that the cusp is a single man, one of the gene soldiers. If he lives, captain, your timeline will result. But, if he is never born, my timeline will survive. His name is -- wait, what was it?" Thomas brought up the man's profile to double-check the name.

When Kirk saw the picture, his mouth dropped open and he breathed the name in a shocked whisper. "Khan!"

"Good God!" McCoy exclaimed.

Thomas turned. "What is it?"

Shaking his head in disbelief, McCoy dismissed him. "Just more proof that God _does_ have a sense of humor."

Thomas didn't understand, but pushed on anyway. "The Guardian is very clear," he said. "For some strange reason -- even if the other gene soldiers are created and the Eugenics War still occurs -- without Khan Noonien Singh the timeline repairs itself and my reality still results. Although I have no idea why, your reality depends upon this Khan's existence."

"Yep," McCoy muttered. "Definitely a sense of humor."

Kirk tried to push the fact that Khan was essential to his existence aside for a moment. "So, what exactly do we need to do?"

Thomas exhaled thoughtfully. "Well, we know when and where Mason changed the past. You can go to the same time and place he did, stop him, and bring him back."

Kirk nodded. "Let's do it."

Thomas resumed typing, and the Guardian began to display images of 20th-century Earth. It had already been decided that Kirk and Spock would be the ones to go, because only they had used the Guardian before. A minute later, they stood in front of the time portal, bracing to leap through it. Spock was watching his tricorder intently, waiting for just the right moment. The time was coming. Almost... Almost...

Now!

But neither of them jumped; they stood stone still. A bright, white light had flashed into existence far above them, and it was holding the whole away team frozen in its glare. They could see, and they could hear, but they couldn't move an inch.

The Alliance had arrived.

Squinting, Thomas stared into the white light. He recognized the tactic. The Alliance ship, several thousand feet above them, was using a wide-beam stun to immobilize its prey. A strike team would beam down somewhere close and attack while there was no resistance.

There was one wrinkle in their strategy, however; Thomas could move. His implant was protecting him. But what could he do?

Of course. It was obvious. He would flee to the past before the strike team reached him, and -- in doing so -- erase them from existence. But the Guardian had continued playing history back, and he had missed the crucial moment. It was too late to head Mason off in 1970. Thomas's eyes drifted to his computer screen, on which Khan Noonien's face was still displayed. A thought struck him. The list of data included Khan's complete genetic code, and Khan himself -- not the war -- was the cusp. What if...

That was it. He grabbed his handheld computer and downloaded all of Khan's data onto it, then rushed towards the Guardian. He would go back in time and live the rest of his life on Earth, devoting himself to the creation of the gene soldiers. To lead them, he would create a child from the genetic code contained in this computer. He would create Khan himself.

One step away from entering the Guardian, he paused. _This is it,_ he thought. _No turning back. Is this really best?_ He thought about the things he would leave behind: the people that he loved; the society he hated. He had the power now to wipe that society from history. He could replace it with a better one. He could replace it with a society that was led by men like James T. Kirk.

Then again, there must be those -- even in Kirk's universe -- who would use the Guardian for evil. It was a power too great for man.

"I have to destroy it," he whispered.

His only weapon was the scout ship that he and Mason had arrived in, but it would do the job. Quickly, he grabbed the Vulcan's laser weapon and freed his arm from the metal sleeve. Then he used the implant to feed a time-delayed overload command into his ship's computer.

He'd turned the tiny research ship into a bomb. Now it was time to go.

Standing before the Guardian, framed against the backdrop of the past, he pulled a worn scrap of paper from his pocket. It was a picture of his wife and son. They were smiling. Thomas smiled back at them through blurring eyes and tried to believe, just for a moment, that they were really here. Then, reluctantly, he released the image and let it drift slowly to the ground.

"This is the memorial to Aleen and Korben Bray," he intoned. "I loved them very much." Then he turned and looked at Kirk with an expression too complex and conflicted to describe. "Kirk," he said, his voice tired and lifeless. "When the beam releases you... just run."

Then he melted through the image of the past and disappeared.

Instantly, the bright, white light released its hold on them and they were free. It was as though the Alliance ship had never been.

Spock opened his communicator. "Away team to Enterprise," he said calmly.

There was a short pop of static. Then, mercifully, they heard Uhura's voice. "This is Enterprise, away team. What is your--"

Kirk popped his own communicator open. "Emergency retrieval! Beam us up, now!"

A moment later, they dissolved in the transporter beam and the Guardian was left alone again. There was stillness and quiet on the surface for a couple of seconds, and then Thomas's final command to his ship was executed. It self-destructed in a brilliant flash, vaporizing the crumpled photograph of Aleen and Korben Bray.

Every trace of what had been was gone.

* * *

A few hours later, Kirk sat in his quarters reviewing the day's events. So much had happened in such a short time. Their mission was over when it had barely begun.

_The Guardian is nothing but a crater, _Spock had said. _All temporal disturbances have ceased._

The Guardian destroyed. Kirk would not have thought it possible.

Now that reality was "set in stone," and there was no going back, Kirk wondered if he'd done the right thing by helping to restore this universe. He wondered if he should even exist. But, then again, the final choice had not been his; Fate had bestowed that choice on Thomas.

Kirk wondered, now, what had become of him.

Wait, he didn't have to wonder. There should be records from that period -- data on Thomas's entire life. After all, it was ancient history now.

Kirk turned on the viewing screen and accessed the library tapes. There he found the biography of Thomas Bray. It was strange to see laid out before him the entire life, and death, of a man he'd spoken to just hours earlier. Yet, there it was, from his marriage to Hannah, his second wife, to the birth of his second son, Taylor... to his ironic death as a casualty of his own Eugenics War.

Kirk reflected on how it must have been for him. To change things back, Thomas had started a war that would push the world into a century of turmoil. At the same time, he'd married again, and had a child who would be doomed to live in the chaos he was preparing to unleash. How had it felt, Kirk wondered, to not only know what was coming, but to be helping it along?

Thomas had caused humanity great pain in the 20th Century in order to stop the rise of a corrupt galactic power in the 23rd.

Pain in the 20th Century, caused by the Eugenics Wars.

Pain in the 23rd Century caused by the cruel Alliance.

What, really, was the difference? This was one universe in an infinite multiverse. Suffering existed everywhere. No timeline was the rightful one. What had their sacrifices accomplished?

No, that was wrong thinking. He couldn't know every variable, every pro and con, of every twist and turn of history. He'd let Edith die to save the away team that was stranded on the ancient planet's surface. Thomas had sacrificed his wife and son to stop a corrupt galactic power from obtaining an awesome tool. Those were worthy ends. Choosing one universe over another was not a task for man. Who could know every detail of every person's life in every potential universe? Who could measure those details and decide from them which reality was best? The existence of something like the Guardian only complicated life. It complicated death. It was better to simply live, and make your own little corner of the universe a little better.

Kirk turned off the viewer, and got up. The Guardian of Forever, keeper of the past, present, and future, was now in _his_ past, and he would not think of it again. He would still think of Edith, but the memory of her face no longer tortured him. The pain wasn't gone, but it was different.

Thomas had believed that the Federation was worth saving, and Kirk was determined to prove him right. He was a starship captain. He was respected and obeyed. And, as he walked onto the bridge and sat down in the captain's chair, he reminded himself of the great responsibility he had as the commander of this fine ship called Enterprise.

"Mr. Sulu," he said, with new resolve and a lightened heart, "take us to warp."

* * *

When the Enterprise left orbit, an ancient computer grid beneath the planet's surface took note of its departure. It commanded a projection device (which had been generating false sensor readings of a crater on the surface) to shut down. The sleeping Guardian was reawakened, and began to reestablish its links to the strands of the timenet. The explosion had triggered a fail-safe. The Guardian had shielded itself and powered down. A false sensor reading had protected it. But now, the threat was gone.

So, as it had since time began, the Guardian of Forever continued waiting... for a question.


End file.
